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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Jambudweep - The Global Island

Earth - The Blue Planet..

Home to every Hunter and Forager,Every Hero and Coward, Every Creator and Destroyer,Every King and Peasant, Every Inventor and Explorer, Every Mother, Father and Child, Every teacher of Morals, Every Corrupt politician, Every Superstar, Saint and Sinner, Aggregate of our Joy and Suffering,This tiny mote of dust,Suspended in a sunbeam,This is Home, This is Us!

Beautiful words by Carl Sagan.. Everyone you love, Everyone you know, Everyone you have ever heard of, Every human being who ever was, has completed his existence on this planet. The planet, which is the only home Humanity has known in its history.

Our Home - The Blue Planet

In the post {Heaven at the North Pole?}, we saw a brief description of the containing landmass - Jambudvipa. Geographical descriptions in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts repeatedly throw up this well-defined yet not-so-well-recognized term.

Different scholars consider it variously as either the 'Indian sub-continent' or the 'Asian continent'. However, as we shall see, none of them come even close to the TRUTH!! Let me share some of the important scriptural references here with you:

Markandeya Puraan describes Jambu-dvipas being depressed above and below and broad in the middle just like a Globe.

Srimad Bhagavatam points out that on Jambu-dvipa, night prevails diametrically opposite to a point where it is day and Sun sets at a point opposite to where it rises.

Mahabharat describes the Universe as a series of shells divided in two by an earth plane called the Bhu-mandala;Jambu-dwip is the central landmark on this plane.

Jainand Buddhistcosmologies indicate Jambū-dweep at the centre of Madhyaloka or the middle part of the universe, the place where Human-beings reside.

And last but perhaps the most important for our current post, various assorted texts describe Bharat Varsha or India as just ONE of the NINE divisions of Jambu-dweep.

Jambu-dvipa in the center of Bhu-mandala & Madhyaloka

From the above descriptions, it would be clear that this landmass DOES NOT refer to India or even Asia.. The references in fact indicate Jambudvipa to be NOT a small portion of our planet, but the ENTIRE Planet itself!!

Jambudvipa in Jain Cosmology

Alongwith Jambu-dweep, the scriptures describe various other Islands which some scholars tend to confuse with the different islands of our planet and hence get flabbergasted. Sitting at the southernmost tip of the island of Lanka right now, I can understand this is definitely NOT the case.

The staggering dimensions of these so called 'Islands' should be indication enough to negate that possibility completely. Moreover, these Dvipas are located around the central landmass of Jambudvipa in a concentric fashion which suggests each of them revolving in circular orbits.

Arrangement of Dvipas in a circular fashion

I believe the Dvipas refer to the different planetary systems of the Madhya Loka that are inhabited by Humans and is perhaps the FIRST reference in World literature to Humanoid races inhabiting MORE than ONE planet!! This interpretation seems to me most likely, especially if the planets being talked about exist in Parallel dimensions. However, for our current study, we shall focus only on the central island, and leave the analysis of others for a subsequent post.

Jambudweep - the Global Island

Repeatedly, the entire landmass of Jambu-dvipa is described as a continuous stretch of land subdivided into different continents by means of various mountain ranges with each of these divisions being governed by the 9 sons of Emperor Agnidhra, the grandson of Adam/Manu.

This, however, is clearly NOT the current state of affairs! The present landmasses on Earth are quite spread out and no where are they close to forming a global island. Besides, instead of Mountain ranges, it is the water bodies that separate them from each other.

So is the legend of this Global-Island a POETIC reference or does it refer to an ACTUAL hither-to-undeciphered fact??

Even preliminary research on this topic shows, that there indeed was a time in the history of our planet when the ENTIRE land on Earth was joined to form aSINGLE landmass! In Geology, such an entity is called a Super-continent and quite suitably, the Scientists have labeled it as Pangea.

Super-continent Pangea

Could it be, that the scriptural reference of Jambudweep, actually originated in a time when the Entire Earth was ONE whole Continent and not broken up into different landmasses!?!

The descriptions in scriptures clearly define an island of gigantic proportions covering this entire globe and it is more than likely that they refer to one of the super-continents that have existed in our pre-history! Let us try to understand, how in the World (pardon the pun) could the ENTIRE World have been joined as one.

Jambudvipa as a Super-continent

It is a scientifically documented fact that Earth's Crust floats on the hot, molten layer called Magma. The solid crust not only moves on top of the fluid layer but is also broken into separate pieces called Plates that move relative to each other. This movement is referred to as Plate-tectonics.

The Tectonic Plates

Plate-tectonics can be used to explain the formation of many geological features on our planet right from the highest mountain ranges of Himalayas (which came up when the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate!!!), to the deepest ocean formations like the Marina trench.

Scientists have observed that the different plates are in CONTINUOUS motion with respect to each other, and plotting their course in the past, they have realized that at some point of time, these plates were all TOGETHER giving rise to our Super-continents!!

Observe changing positions with focus on the Indian plate

Moreover, this process is still going on and our Earth is going to look quite different in the future as well!

Earth's crust changing shape over the past and future!

The presence of these super-continents has also been proved using Fossil studies which shows a remarkable similarity amongst the distribution of wild-life in the southern continents.

Fossil co-relation found in Present Continents

The movement of these Plates has resulted in formation and disintegration of Super-continents in the 4.5 Billion year old history of our Planet MORE than ONCE!

The earliest known super-continent on our planet was formed 3.1 Billion Years Ago (!) and is called the Vaalbara. Since its break-up, a series of global islands have taken shape and disintegrated and the most important of these have been the Kenorland, Columbia,Rodinia and the most recent one, the Pangaea.

Arrangement of current continents in past Super-continents

Now, which of these is the Earth-Island of our texts, would have to be ascertained through deeper study of the scriptures, (or maybe even Time-Travel!!). For our current purpose, it should be sufficient to understand that Jambudweep refers to one of these Global Islands, perhaps like the Pangea.

Interestingly, this movement of tectonic-plates might have a parallel in mythology as well!!

The Cosmic Turtle

It is interesting to note, that Hindu texts talk about the Earth (land) being situated on the back of a Turtle which, to me, seems an allegorical representation of the slowly sliding Earth plates!!!

Earth plate on the back of a Cosmic Turtle

Tortoise-like slow movement of Earth's Plates

Animation showing the slow movement of Earth plates

Shatapatha Brahman identifies Earth as the lower shell, the atmosphere as the body and the vault of heaven as the upper shell of this Cosmic Turtle. Also, the serpent around the world is similar to the one in Norse mythology that binds Midgard or middle-earth together. Similar concepts can also be found in Chinese, as well as Native American mythology. In fact the Mayan, Incan and Navajo descriptions of the Earth closely mirror the descriptions of Jambu-dvip from ancient Indian texts!﻿

Numerous other scriptures also give matching descriptions which, due to lack of correct understanding, were ridiculed by early European Historians. There's nothing ridiculous about the descriptions from ancient scriptures; we only need the right INSIGHT to decipher their profound meaning!

Jambu-dvipa Map according to Native American and Indian texts

This might be a reflection of beliefs passed on by oral tradition remembering the common origins of mankind or perhaps the wisdom passed on by Gods, or who knows, maybe even Aliens ;o)

Description of Jambu-dweep

Ancient texts describe 9 divisions of Jambu-dweep with precise locations ascribed to each of them. Also, bang in the center of this global-landmass is an enormous mountain calledMeru.

Now, we have already discussed Mount Meru earlier {Check - Heaven at the North Pole} and have understood that it actually refers to the Earth's Axis. Also, in the previous post {Check - Naming a Nation}, we have identified and studied the description of our own Indian sub-continent.

On the basis of the last TWO posts, there are at least TWO things we can definitely state:

One, BhArat Varsha refers to the Indian sub-continent;

Second, Mount Meru and therefore its containing continent Ilavrit Varsha, is situated around the North pole.

To me, the descriptions of Jambudvipa seem like a Polar projection i.e. a view of the Earth as seen from above the North Pole. We will therefore try to extrapolate the continents based on these three reference points.

Polar Projection of the present landmass

Let us first understand the exact arrangement of continents in this Super-continent. Broadly, the four landmasses of Bharat, Ketumal, Bhadrashva and Kuru are placed in the four directions, like petals of a lotus flower around the central pericarp of Meru (and Ilavrit Varsha). Let's see how it appears diagramatically.

Central Meru with lotus like arrangement of continents

Going Southwards from Meru, we first come across Kimpurush-varsha followed by Hari-varsha and finally Bharat-varsh which is the southernmost continent. In the North, Ramyak is the first landmass followed by Hiranyamay and Uttarkuru divisions (As a corollary, we get Kuru Varsha on the exact opposite side of India when mapped on the globe).

Towards the East is Bhadrashvawhich would today lie somewhere in the Pacific Ocean and towards the West is Ketumalwhich would probably be submerged under the Atlantic Ocean of today. The image below has been taken from Hitxp forum and maps these descriptions onto the current World Geography.

Sub-divisions of Jambudweep

{Image courtesy Hitxp Forum}

We should understand that owing to different arrangement of continents, most of Southern America, Afric and Australia were either located very different to their current positions OR probably submerged under water!

If this theory is correct, the reference to this Super-continent points to existence of an extremely ancient civilization that has retained the memories of a Global-Island or at the very least had the technical know-how to find out this pre-historic description ages before modern science!!

Repatedly, my research throws up such astonishing facts that I am forced to think twice before writing each article! But then, I think it is my duty to share my findings with whoever is interested in reading about such topics and let them form their own opinions. There is NO other agenda for me but to find out the HIDDEN science in the enormous religious data available in our country. Not only Hindu, even Jain and Buddhist texts are full of beautiful insights into the mysteries of the Universe.

Coming back to the mystery of Jambudvipa, most geologists claim that this is a cyclical process and in about 250 Million Years from now, all the continents would AGAIN come together to form a super-continent called the Pangea Proxima.

Many models have tried to predict the future shape of this global-island but I would like to propose a new and more attractive one :o)

Jambu-dweep of Love

Just as the Jambu-dweep has split over the eons, so has the Human species and we are today divided into innumerable tribes, religions, races and nations. Whatever shape the landmasses take next I just hope and pray that by then, MANKIND has learnt to live in Love and Harmony!

This is so awesome, reading a story that we, Lakota/Dakota have told for as long as there have been the telling of stories. I was especially attracted to the "nine". In the older stories there was a central fire from which seven fires emerged. It was through the central fire all of the fires connected to a creating or emergence fire. From the seven fires came from each seven more. In diagram it was like a giant sun with rays. Each earthly fire was believed to be a portion of the sun on earth. In some of the old stories, lands broke away because of Wakontah, Creator of the Sun shouting in anger over the behavior of people. If they couldn't get along, then get apart. As far as the races, well, evolution or adaptation to a particular environment. But in truth, the same people. Again I am reminded of Sanskrit--Wotake Oyate Wanji--Many People(Nations) are One, from the Dakota/English Dictionary.

This is awesome. Reading a story which has been passed by oral tradition for as long as language has been in existance. I was especially attracted to "nine" and the Fires used by the Dakota People. This gives even further understanding that if one was to look in the Dakota/English Dictionary, Sanskrit--Wotake Oyate Wanji--Many People(Nations) are One. What was will be once again. Some might argue that this diminishes "god" and elevates science and an attempt to disprove. In my opinion, it is quite the contrary. It further deepens the faith. And as of yet, there is no scientific explanation to describe and give reason for emotions. Wastelaka--Love. It is known, but can never really be described.

Thanx a lot Charlie for sharing this information :)true I also believe that Science and Religion shud nbot be segregated rather we should find the common ground between both in order to make sense of this increasingly complex world!! This blog is an attempt in the same direction and I really appreciate ur inputs everytime :)

A persuasive visual treat, AmoAm, with some intriguing and artistic insights—especially your idea of the Cosmic Turtle as an allegory for earth's slow sliding Tectonic Plates. The idea alone suggests that our forefathers felt—or could visualise—the earth wobbling beneath their feet. Let's see some more evidence, please! : )

Thanx a lot @Nicolaas :)I wish we could unearth more hard evidence too.. what we are left with today is just the remnants of ruins left by numerous invaders and whatever has survived the vgaries of time.. however, it is the Literary evidence which is still preserved due to an ancient oral tradition and that is all we have to back our hypothesis on today.. plz do share any info abt this topic if you happen to come across it :)

really good read. I have heard a lot about cosmic turtle but I got to read it too..also like the " earth's crust changing shape over both past and future"..truly really interesting. was good to know and getting some of our facts clear. :-)

@Sachin not at all.. but this knowledge does not have to be known through first hand experience.. one can interpret aliens n Gods into what I mean by that but I guess the info is right there for all to see..

Jambudweep is mentioned in Jain Texts (As far as I know) . Well Jambudweep can't be India because it is supposed to be surrounded by Lavana Samudra (Lavana= Salty) Instead Jambudweep is something like the dimension we are living in. which is surrounded by belligerent force (For eg. Ocean). But the scriptures also say about some 'Devs' protecting our dimension from such brutal tides of Lavana Samudra.In the heart of Jambudweep there's a mountain called 'MERU' (Some people think that this MERU PARVAT (mountain) is Kailash, Ashtapad.The sacred mountain is supposed to hold liberated souls (Arihants)

I just recently was guided to your page. I study alot of the same stuff you talk about here, but you are way more educated in the Hindu aspect. I have recently begun to map everything according to the Expanding Earth Hypothesis. Your Cosmic Turtle aspect from my perspective reinforces the idea of Expanding Earth. There is a Crustal Age Map by the NOAA that conflicts with the Continental Drift Theory, once other factors are applied. Alot of Ancient Myths fit nicely into the Expanding Earth Theory, especially the Lost Continent of Mu. Science recognizes Zealandia as a submerged continent. Maori and various other S. Pacific lore tell of these people descending from the people from a continent which sank into the Ocean. I dont fully accept Continental Drift since it does not seem plausible that India would detach itself, float freely across the Indian Ocean and then slam into a continent bigger than itself. I have noticed the scientific community can not place ancient fault lines into there computer models or maps until they reach roughly 200mya. Oddly thats the oldest Oceanic Crust they can find. There is not one piece of oceanic crust that is older than that. This Expansion would explain Dinosaur die-off due to lost migration patterns. And the Dinos were the ONLY species to die off. Mammals, birds, reptiles, they all survived this. If it were a comet, wouldnt all life have been subject to extinction? Evolution research shows species can rapidly change in less than a few generations. Check out the Lizards of Pod Mrcaru, very interesting insight into evolution and social behavior.

Hi my name is Kevin Roelofs, really like your page here. I have just a few questions for ya. Have you tried applying your theory here to not Pangea the Super Continent, but a 40% smaller Earth? NOAA Ocean Crustal Age Map contradicts Continental Drift, as well imagine weight distribution. If you take a sphere and add more weight to one side than the other, there would be a huge wobble in the rotation. If Pangea had existed we would have wobbled out into space along time ago. I will point you to Neal Adams or Continuity Studios for Mr. Adams Computer Model. With this model as well Im willing to bet it answer some other questions that you may have. I also invite you to check out that NOAA Map. Oddly science cannot map the fault lines before 200mya, which is right in tune with start of the Earth Expansion is you go by the age of the Oceanic Crust. No crust in the Ocean is older than 200mya. I personally do not fully accept Continental Drift since it seems rather illogical in my opinion. I find it unbelievable that India would uproot itself from granitic rock, set sail across the Indian Ocean and slam into Asia. As well if we did float around like bumper cars, Mr. Adams wouldve been unable to make his model work so well, since he used the shape of the continents and the NOAA data to create his computer model. I will stay following to see what other good stuff ya got, good day to ya.

Hey Kevin.. thanx a lot for ur inputs.. I am aware of the expanding Earth hypothesis and have seen couple of videos on youtube regarding the same. I agree the Indian sub-continent slamming into Asia seems a lil diff to believe but as of now there doesnt seem to be any other universally accepted model by the scientific community. Would be great to get some new insights on this issue and as u rightly said, a 40% smaller Earth might fit the Jambudweep account and the cosmic turtle theory could equally well apply to the expansion model as well.. lets wait and see what more Science has to offer about the two theories in the near future..

HiI was just on your site very interesting. The Hindu information was very helpful as yesterday a new article on a monkey in Toronto store caught headlines and my inner being was sensing a connection to the Hindu myths!

Watch this video and see what you notice ... simply Decoding the LILLA / Game!... that is what we are now doing, putting the jigsaw puzzle together ... past, present future all interlace changing as we move along the dance of life in the present moment ...

Do you see number 3312 in the background window ... I noticed the number 33 and from your site saw 33 devas and you mention Shiva Hanuman is number 12. When we connect with the Universal intelligence it sends wireless signals as codes and hints to understand the deeper meaning of events.

From this Primal Void, came the four sources of creation, and the power of speech.The Supreme Creator created the play of Nature; through the Word of Shabad(Word, Logos, Speech, Thought), ONE stages the Wondrous Show.Guru Granth Sahib – 1037

There is a design and a designer, but they are so combined, the one within the other, the one withinand the one without, that it is impossible to separate them. The creator is within its creations, and thecreations themselves are gifted with creativity. The world comes to know itself, to discover itself,for the planner left room for divine surprise, and the plan was nowhere foreordained.Jane Roberts – Seth Speaks Unknown Reality – Archives Yale University

great blog i might be naive in asking is the earth "round" as it was lifted by lord varaha (vishnu as boar) in his tusks.The earth had to be round if he has to lift it.But in many places in mahabharat it gives a view that it is flat like "petals of lotus flower". when arjun visits seven similar earthly islands.if earth is round does it rotate around meru mountain.rather than meru mountain going through earth..

From my understanding, Lord Varaha was described to have uplifted the entire Bhu Mandala (not planet earth alone) which got submerged in the Gharbhodaka ocean at the end of last Kapla. The Bhu mandala mentioned here could be the entire earthly plane including the seven Dweepas & seven Samudras, which could be relatively flat and a disk like structure.

Possible but I think its Bhu-devi or the Earth goddess that was rescued along with her planet Bhumi.. they had a son too called Bhauma or Narkasur. As regards the seven dweepas I don't think they would be flat if we believe physics hence there description is most likely a sort of polar projection as shown for this planet above.

First of all, I really appreciate you Vineet for carrying out such an exhaustive research and a painstaking effort for making this blog possible. May Sri Hari bless you.

Regarding my previous post, I wanted to add some clarification and some more details as to why I think in such a way.No, I didn’t mean that the dweepas themselves are flat, I meant that the overall structure which holds these dweepas could be flat or a disk like structure. For example take our solar system, it holds different planets and their moons which are spherical but when we look at the overall shape of the solar system, it is relatively flat.

Yes, I do agree with you that it was Bhumi Devi (the presiding deity of entire earthly realm i.e. all the seven dweepas) whom the Bhagavan has rescued from the depths of Garbodhaka ocean.

If we look at the scriptures carefully, the Bhumi mentioned in the episode of Lord Varaha cannotes all the seven dweepas not just the Jambu dweepa or planet earth. According to Srimad Bhagavatham and Vishnu Purana, this episode of Lord Varaha happened at the very beginning of this kalpa in the first Manvantara. Brahma created Svayambhuva Manu and Shatarupa and instructed them to procreate and populate the Bhumi with their progeny, it was only then Brahma realized that Bhumi was submerged in the Gharbodhaka ocean and owing to his inability he prayed to Narayana who uplifted it by incarnating as Varaha. Later Svayambhuva Manu ruled this entire Bhu Mandala (all the seven dweepas) and handed it over to his eldest son Priyavrata. Priyavrata ruled it for a long time and then divided the administration of seven dweepas among his 7 sons. Our Jambu dweepa was handed over to one of his sons Agnidhra, who in turn divided Jambu dweepa into 9 varshas and handed them over to his 9 sons. Agnidhara’s eldest son Nabhi was made the ruler of our Bharata varsha (named after the famous emperor Bharata, who was the grandson of Nabhi). This is the reason why I think that all the seven dweepa including ours was uplifted by Lord Varaha.

Hmmmm yes could be possible since Manu and his sons did rule the entire Bhu-mandala. BTW just to clear another erroneous perception that science has given us - Solar System is NOT actually flat! The planetary orbits are in different planes and since the Sun itself is not stationery the planets are actually revolving around it in a spiral manner!

Then there is the question of the etymology of the name 'Jambhudwipa'. One may try and decode this name with the help of Sanskrit. The most relevant one seems to be 'jamb + bhu + dwipa'. 'Jamb' (जम्ब) means clay or mud, 'bhu' is land and 'dwipa' of course is island. If the Annunaki story that extra- terrestrials came to earth in antiquity in search of gold is true, then the word 'jambava' (जाम्बव = gold) comes into play. Then again 'jambha' (जम्भ) is the name of Indra's Thunderbolt'. 'Jamga' (जम्ग) which means 'movable' may also apply, but then 'most' heavenly bodies of the universe are movable. Other close cognates of 'jambhu' mean 'jamun fruit' and also 'rose apple'. The earth must have been called 'Jambhudwipa' for a logical reason but where this name originates from is a mystery.

For quite sometime, I am reading and doing everything in search of the truth of our very being. More I know makes me feel more I do not know. Thanks Vineet for a splendid work. And thanks all for contributing more to this beautiful blog.

This is all eternal explanation of Kabirsaheb.He is saying I visited all eternal oceans and keep my back in jambudveep but this is the only truth that if you will not leave your sleep and remember the god 24/7 you will not be able to meet god. That means do not sleep and just remember god name for 24/7. Actually jambudveep is one of the place in eternal (suxam lok). In Jain scriptures also explain about jambudveep.

Thanks for your update about the global island jambu dweepa and its extensive research carried over about it.Here i want to combine Krishna's saying "CHATUR VARNYAM MAYA SRISHTAM GUNA KARMA VIBAVASOHO".Here this four varnas , he has mentioned is not "BSVS" as mostly believed but about the four pure races which earlier existed like WHITE, RED, YELLOW AND BLACK race which even today has some sort of link to our Asian, Western, Chinese or Mangolian, Black or Africa or Negroid race.

Why i'm stressing this is in india we have mix of all these four main races that constituted our gene pool of variety of castes and creed. That's why our people are having different shades of brown , black and also pure white or red skins. Unlike in other countries, this mix of races completely degenerated our unique gene trait and we have the maximum variety of gene pooling..that also led to the generation after generation of mix which led to further degradation and finally to the fall of bharath and hinduism into the hands of westerners and muslim occupation.

We can't make any reverse of the history. But our human resources of the world are utilized according to their gene mapping can contribute more to the progress of the nation as well as the world instead of all doing general studies.

Our previous WHITE Race were intellectuals or spiritual seekers (previously rishis, brahmins now all educated scholars), RED Race were hunters, administrators and brave soldiers (previously kshatiryas...mostly europeans and the west region of india), YELLOW Race were business or wealth creators (previously mangoloid race (combination of red and yellow ...now chinese, japanese, far east and south east asian nations), Black Race (African people)Since this makes now as mixed races also...by making correct gene mapping and activating the particular gene trait (as told in a TAMIL Movie Ezham arivu), we can contribute better by making them study, learn job skills according to their gene traits, this genetically nourished people will contribute to the progress of the nation rather than all studying all subjects according to the marks or credit based system.

Even India will be economically powerful, if like the west, south asian countries and south africa accept westerners and mangoloid race people into our country either by way of improving our education to international standards or absobing them into hi-tech environment, it will definitely contribute to a better gene pool that will benefit the nation just like USA.

Kindly read this fully and reply to me asap if you find this very interesting and implementable

This is an intersting point that you have made and there may be a possibility that it is in fact true. Genetic mapping of the Indian chromosome has been done in many studies and you may find it mentioned on the post titled 'Genetics of the Wandering Indian' on the blog. As far as the genetic variability is concerned, ours is indeed next only to the Africans, however whether we can use it for our benefit or not would probably be determined by the politics of the day!

Dear Vineet, thank you for an excellent article. But I have a question for you. Earliest mention of Jambunad or Jambudweep is found in Mahabharata, which is most probably written around 400 BCE by Vyasa. Many parts had been added to it too till 400 CE. The exact events of Mahabharata may have happened between 800-900 BCE.Again the probable tectonic collision of Indian Plate to Eurasian Plate occured between 50-55 million years ago. Some theories also claim about 2 collisions- one soft 50-55 million years ago & one hard 25 million years ago.Similarly the earliest Primates probably developed around 85 million years ago during the late cretaceous erawhich is proven by genetic evidences.Now is it possible to remeber such a old incidence generation after generation till the modern times? So how can we accept the Jambudweep as the Global Island? May be a river island around Pamir etc is more acceptable. May be the Mount Meru is symbolically overemphasized to indicate the place of the Gods. I have done some research myself & found that The Meru Mountain was also described as being surrounded by Mandrachal Mountain (Bhadrasva; Xinxiang of North China) to the east, Supasarv Mountain (Cetumal/Ketumal; Mexico & Central America) to the west, Kumuda Mountain (Curu/Kuru; Central Asia & Western Siberia) to the north and Kailash Mountain (Bharat; India) to the south.

Now, I was doing some reading of my own, and have been perplexed by the existence of 'Swastik' as a symbol in many races including ours. In fact, Nazis made it their symbol as they thought it depicted the entire Aryans. After reading your post about Mount Meru & Jambudweep, and keeping Mercator's map in context, I've come to believe that Swastik actually is a symbol of Mount Meru and the four rivers originating from it. And as the earth rotates anti-clockwise, the extended arms show the flow of the rivers outward in the opposite direction. Jambudweep being a common landmass for mankind, and especially as an abode of Aryan Gods, possibly explains Swastik's presence in their literature.

Dear Vineetji, very good analysis and scientific reasoning. I am also interested to get at the root of this planet Earth. Our sacred texts have described our Planet Earth thus--- SAPTA DWIPA VASUNDHARA---. ie the whole Earth is divided into SEVEN DWIPAS connected and located in a single landmass or a Super continent. Basing on this Veda pramanyam, we can proceed further and identify the ancient names of the kingdoms located on those seven Dwipas moved and formed into the present day Continents. Presently, I am also trying to get at these details, which should not be difficult if we believe in our ancient vedic literature and get these details. You have done a great job and I am confident that many more insights into our scriptures will bring out a clearer picture of our ancient super continent and present day Continents. Thank you.---- B.N.MURTY, VIRGINIA, USA

Thanx a lot Mr Murty for your comments.. though as I mentioned in the post on Bharat, the seven Dwipas refer to seven separate planets comprising the Bhu-mandal and Earth of Jambudvip itself is actually divided into nine-Varshas. DO give it a read :)

Excellent work bro. I do really appreciate it. Just to mention about the title Name Decode Hindu Mythology.. Mythology is normally stand for story which may or may not be true. But the Vedic literature is not Myth or Story as none of its contents proved to be wrong so far. It may be changed from Mythology to Hindu Text of Cosmic Manifestation.

Thank you for your input Mitesh :) Well I find the name quite apt coz it conveys something mysterious that needs to be decoded to make sense of it.. history wudnt b interesting if it did not have myths attached to it :)

Excellent work! Really really excellent work! There are just so many things which the science hurls in our face in the name of facts and evidences when it doesn't even know where and when and how to begin with. I am particularly intrigued in finding out how the Dinosaurs and the (shape of) Pyramids figure in our Vedas and why there is no mention of Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohd in our scriptures. Maybe you could explain these?

Hi there.. before answering let me thank you for your kind words first.. the dinosaurs are represented in our mythology as an animal called Sharabh which was the form Lord Shiv had taken once.. there are some jatak stories as well featuring these animals and the hindu Temples of Angkor Vat even have them carved on their pillars which shows humans may have come in contact with them sometime! Pyramids do not find any mention per se though if you notice all our temples are also conical in shape..

Regarding Prophet Mohd and Jesus Christ you wud b surprised to know that they are indeed mentioned in the scripture called Bhavishya Puraan :)

Hi...I would like to ask why there is no mention of other countries(like America,China etc.) in Ramayana,Mahabharata,vaaman puran etc...as the kings used to say that they had conquered whole earth and the region which they always use is only of India like Ayodhya,Mathura,Dwarka etc.....What about all other countries and their people at that time....???

Well the simple answer is because the Mahabharat and Ramayan are set in the country of India! You wouldn't find reference to the Americas or Greenland since they do not form a part of the story. The Puranas on the other hand do talk about other countries as Varshas and give detailed descriptions of them though it is little difficult to identify them as per the current geographies since Earth's coastline has changed n number of times.

Well Jambudweep has been described as being surrounded by a salt ocean so its difficult to imagine a time when all the water was located only at the pole with rest of the world as land.. but then who knows!

Jambudweep sounds like the centre of the milkyway galaxy to me. Milky way is the madhya loka where both good and evil reside in equal proportions below the milky way are the galaxies where the evil successively increases. One thing i am 100% sure of at this point is that the seas and oceans mentioned in the ancient texts are the empty spaces between planets and galaxies, they r not referring to seas and oceans as we understand them

Well Jambudweep as mentioned earlier is the place where humans reside so the likelihood of it being Earth is much more than the entire galaxy though you may have a point too with the oceans actually being space.

I also want to share one more finding that I came across, that ancient texts like Mahabharata mentions the concept of deriving the shape of Jambudweep basedon the reflections of Earth's continent on Moon. Can check this link if interested

But what about the Puranic tales, that says that there were 10 sons of king Priyavrata, son of Swayambhuva Manu, 3 became Sanyasi and the King Priyavrata, rode the chariot and divided the super continent of earth(most probably Pangea) and divided into 7 parts or dweeps and gave each continent to each of sons to rule.

King Rishabha, son of king Nabhi was ruler of Bharatvarsha(one of 9 varshas or countries in Jambudweep). King Rishabha's son Bharat was the cause for the name of country to become Bharata Varsha, before that it was called something else (source Vishnu Purana).

The other dweeps seems to be other continents, and Ilavrata refers to Russia and surrounding region, at the centre of which mount Meru is located which seems to be North Pole axis, as described by you in other article, where there is day for 6 months and night for another 6 months(the exact description of day and night of heavenly Gods).

Ya that matches perfectly with this description.. the sweeps according to me are other earth-like planets inhabited by humanoids.. the continents on earth are the varshas not dweeps and I have mentioned about this story in the post on India as well :)

Dr. Aggarwal, I understand that jambudweep actually refers to the whole planet earth, but, there is mention of other dweeps such as plakshdweep, kronchdweep, etc in purans, pl throw some light on them or a source where I can read about them. it is also mentioned that there is always treta yuga in these dweeps alongwith their mountains, people, type of sea, but, their location actually creates confusion whether they are continents on earth or other planets somewhere, but where? i would be greatful if u could reply through mail on renu.wal77@gmail.com or reply on your blog.byerenu aggarwal

Yes they are mentioned and are a part of the Bhu-mandal which creates the confusion.. But the point to understand is that Bhu-mandal does not refer to Earth but is the term used to describe the entire Middle Planetary Systems INCLUDING Earth (Jambudweep). It stands to reason then that the other Dweeps mentioned with their oceans of different chemicals are actually other Earth-like planets that exist in the same plane as Earth does! If only scientists take this information seriously they can actually focus their search for alien life here saving everyone a lot of time and money :)

I descended from Brahma's Palace to Jumbudvipa, the world of humans - from a Buddhist text. So it is clear that Jumbudvipa is earth and dvipa's are islands or planets in ocean of milk, probably milky way.

There are 9 Varshas in Jambudvipa. One of which is Bharat Varsha. According to Srimad Bhagavatam this is the only place in our Universe, where Humans Live. All the other places are for Heavenly (Super Human) beings.

I would like to have a discussion on this topic. Nice to know that someone in this world is interested in the Vedic cosmology.

I have been doing research on this topic for past 5-6 years. Have found some interesting and intriguing facts, if someone cares to know about.

Thanks for your interest. I tried to add you as a friend in my facebook (Vedic Cosmology) but I am unable to do so. I can't see an "Add Friend" button on your profile. You can help me out by sending a friend request to my facebook account.That way we can share our knowledge with each other.

Is our modern cosmological science equipped to Prove or Dis-Prove Vedic Cosmology

A simple answer would be NO.

But its not sufficient to say NO unless we understand WHY?

Well, in order to understand WHY, we first need to wrap our minds around the concept of perception boundaries.

Now what do we exactly mean by perception boundaries? And who exactly is responsible for administering these boundaries?

The answer lies in one the ancient Vedic texts called: Bramha-Samhita. (http://vedabase.net/bs/5/en)

The precise text answering these questions is BS-5.44. (http://vedabase.net/bs/5/44/en)

Those who are familiar with Hindu Gods and Goddess surely knows Goddess Durgaa. But not everyone knows who she is or her function in the grand scheme.

As found in the text above, Goddess Durgaa is the personification of the ILLUSORY POTENCY of the Supreme Creator Sri Krishna. The word ILLUSORY, is of great significance, and we will see why is that, as we go further.

This Illusory Potency is the Energy Or Agency of the Supreme Creator, through which HE is Creating, Maintaining and Destroying this phenomenal creation.

Word "दुर्गा" (Durgaa) is derived from the root "दुर्ग" (Durga). "Durga" in Sanskrit means a fortress. And the superintendent of this fortress is "Durgaa".

A fortress in this context should be taken by its property of confining the access of something. So as a fortress would confine ones access to a limited area contained within the fortress; similarly in our context, here the confining boundary is that of perception. And the one who is responsible to create and maintain this boundary (fortress) of perception is "Durgaa".

The next obvious question is, how is this fortress of perception built around the soul? Maya Devi (Durgaa Devi) does that by giving different types of bodies to us souls. Each body defines the limits of perception. Our ability to perceive the world around us is directly dependent on the type of body we have.

There are 8,400,000 different species (types of bodies). Human body is one of them. There are bodies that are better equipped than a human body, to perceive this creation.

Once we understand this limitation of a human life, then its not difficult to realize that our scientific endeavours, no matter how sophisticated they might be, are still limited to the boundary of perception of a human body.

Thus, with this limitation it will be difficult to either Prove or Dis-Prove the explanation of cosmology found in the ancient Vedic texts.

So one may ask; can we still reconcile the differences of Vedic cosmology and the scientifically observed universe?

The answer to that is YES. We can reconcile those differences if we approach this topic in a rather unconventional way.

There are stories for each of those! The original form of Vishnu called Marayan or Karanodakshayi Vishnu actually does not lie on a serpent and rather lies on water.. it is the subsequent emanations that come from him especially Brahma that is born from a lotus for the first time and Lord Shiv gets the serpent much later actually.. just because they are shown with these does not mean they had them since the beginning :)

well Dr. vineet ...........I have read some purana. from that jammudvipa is almost 1 lac yojana . salt of ocean is around it. if we match with it modern science you will find today our earth is only is 9th division of jamudvipa. means bharta shetra is our planet earth. and jamudvipa is not otherthing but entire milkyway.at that time yojana is variable ie 1 yojana is diameter of today s's earth. each varsha has their own solar system as time descended. One big sun which illuminate whole three lokas cannot our sun it is onlu\y local son.....please clarify...

No buddy Bharat is clearly defined as being south of the Himalayas while other varshas are the divisions of Jambudweep.. check out the post tiled 'India or Bharat' on this blog for more on the Indian sub-continent. 1 Yojan is roughly 9 miles

Hi.. i really like your blog and appreciate your study and knowledge. Since childhood i am fascinated by mythology and science in it.. jumbudweep is certainly earth.. however in my opinion the name can be given due to its appearance from space.. the colour of earth might be jambu or jambhul (in marathi).. and if that is true then we can get some idea on how the division of land trees and water was at that time... posting a reference link on colour of earth.. http://mb-soft.com/public/earthblu.html

Good to know your keen interest in this area Dr. Vineet. I have also been reading Puranas for last few years and trying to make sense of those, rather than rejecting them as mythology.

One thing I would like to bring to notice here regarding JambooDwip and bharatVarsha : It has been clearly mentioned in Markandeya Puran on more that one occasion that only the HimVarsha division of the Jamboodvip is karmbhoomi or mrityuloka while the other 8 have no death or disease or sorrow , and no Karma also. So one should infer from this that our earth planaet is only that HimVarsha division, that Priyavrat gave to his son Nabhi and then Nabhi to Rishabh and then to Bharat. Because all the places on this earth are karmabhoomi (one has ot work to earn livelihood), and no place here is free from death and disease.

It would be interesting to know your, and other readers' thoughts on above point with reference to Markandya Purana

Yes but as seen from the descriptions of all the Varshas, Bharat Varsh extends only from the Himalayas to the ocean and not all over the globe. The only way we can justify this statement of Markandeya Puran is that humans had not ventured out too much into the other Varshas which may have been occupied by semi-divine beings like Gandharvs and Yakshas and Kinnars and Kimpurushas.

If we read the description of BharatVarsha in Markandeya puran, it states that :

Rishi Markandeya says (to saint Kaushik): O Brahmin, Listen, BharatVarsha has nine divisons, all of which are separated by sea, so humans from one division are not able to travel to other. These nine divisons are : Indraddeeep, Kesheruman, Tamravarna, Gabhastiman, NagaDweep, Somayadweep, Gandrarvadweep, Varundweep and ninth is this BharatVarsha which is covered by sea in west, east and south.

So , BharatVarsha is referring to one of the 9 divisions of JambooDweep, and then it is further split into 9 of which one that is Indian subcontinent is again called BharatVarsha. This helps to explain how entire earth planet is also BharatVarsha , and Indian subcontinent is also BharatVarsha. Other Puranas may also be referring the two by same name which may be causing confusion and misinterpretation by modern scholars and researchers of Vedas and Puranas.

The detailed descriptions of other 8 divisions of JambooDweep are definitely not befitting a place that could exist on earth. These places are more like heavens where old age, disease etc. do not exist. If they have to exist on earth, it would mean, there are still some hidden places on our planet that our modern civilization has no knowledge of. I would not rule out that possibility, but it still seems quite unlikely. If we were to rule out the possibility of these other 8 places being on earth planet, then even more difficult question arises : Where do they exist , is it another planet ? That is also not appealing right now. Bit lost, need more pieces to complete the puzzle.

Refering to the previous input by some one i would like to add, that i have read "there are many Lokas in this planet itself. like vyahiriti loka, patal loka (both of these are divided in to 5 to 6 further lokas) and most astonishing thing about these is that - they are at diffferent timelines from each other. so suppose we could see in to the vyahiriti loka then we would be seeing the future time as per our time line. and in patal loka we would be observing the past as per our time line.

its a bit confusing, let me explain it like it was explained to me by a rishi. suppose the patal loka, bhu loka and swarg or vyahiriti loka are flowing rivers.

but the swarg loka river started flowing first, then the bhu loka and then the patal. so if a person is in patal and viewing the bhu loka, he can see what is already happened (i,e, our past) similarly for swarga loka.

Dhanyawaad! Well if Jambudweep is indeed the global island it is easy to infer that the other dweeps are earth-like planets that together with our own comprise the middle world or Bhu-Loka. The countries have already been plotted in the second last image.

Dear vineetji its very intering research u have done. I have one doubt in vedas in any pujas/ritual we perform we make a sankalp where we are in and what for we are doing its like " adyabrahmana ditiyaparardhe swetha varaha kalpe vaivasta manvantare kaliyuge pradhama pade jambudwipe bharata varshe,bharata khande mero dikbhage.. so .. so river side ..samvatsara, ayana, nakshatra .. date time. name gotra etc.While performing puja before shanti mantra we recite " chatussagara paryantam go brahmanebhyo subham bhavatu" then om shanti shanti shantihi.... No my question is jambudweep is island covers 3 sides of ocean. Then our vedmantra why they recite chatussagara (all surrounded 4 seas) wherein the lives of cow, and brahman be blessed. How this 4 seas comes is there any indirect inferences what are they can u please explain.

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A Man On A Mission

Manager by profession, Doctor by qualification; Artist by temperament..
Love traveling to new places and exploring different cultures..
Reading, Photography, Sketching, Movies n Numismatics keep me lost in a parallel Universe.. Fascinated by the Science hidden in ancient mythologies of the World and love exploring their connection :)